


Coin Tricks

by phoenixflight



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Magic Reveal, Modern AU, magical registry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-11
Updated: 2019-01-11
Packaged: 2019-10-08 03:06:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17378408
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phoenixflight/pseuds/phoenixflight
Summary: This is actually a cleaned up and finally finished version of a fic that has been sitting in on my hard drive since 2013, so it gave me a warm fuzzy glow to finish it. It was an absolute joy to revisit this fandom and these beloved characters - thanks to Zafra for requesting them. Hope you like it!





	Coin Tricks

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Zafra](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zafra/gifts).



> This is actually a cleaned up and finally finished version of a fic that has been sitting in on my hard drive since 2013, so it gave me a warm fuzzy glow to finish it. It was an absolute joy to revisit this fandom and these beloved characters - thanks to Zafra for requesting them. Hope you like it!

Arthur was whistling as he walked into the laundromat with a bag of laundry over his shoulder. A group of girls had given him a strange look on his way inside, but what did he care what people with eyebrow piercings thought of him? One of them had been wearing the blue wristband of a registered mage. Arthur always felt vaguely embarrassed about noticing that. 

Inside the laundromat he found an empty machine and stuffed his sheets into it. There was a clink in the bottom of the washer drum. Frowning, Arthur reached into the machine, feeling around under his sheets. There was nothing in this load that should make a metal noise like that- just his sheets, which had been spectacularly ruined the night before. Just thinking about it made him start to smile again. 

His fingers found a cool circle of metal, and he pulled the coin out. It was a quarter that had probably fallen out of his or Merlin’s pockets the night before. 

Merlin. Arthur grinned to himself and started whistling again. 

-

The next Saturday morning after Merlin had stayed over, Arthur was attempting to pull the sheets back into some sort of order while Merlin showered. As he tossed the pillows back onto the bed, he saw a glint of copper in the top sheets. 

There were three pennies hiding in a fold of flannel. Arthur frowned. They had actually gotten their pants off before they got on the bed last night. There was no reason for random change in his sheets. 

Then the shower shut off with a thunk and Merlin emerged with his dark hair plastered to his forehead, water beading on his pale shoulders and in the hollows of his collar bones. 

Arthur forgot about the coins.  

\- 

They were lying on top of the covers, still breathing hard. Merlin’s eyes were closed, a goofy smile on his face. 

Arthur wasn’t even surprised when he plucked a quarter out from under the pillows. “Do you know where these are coming from?” he asked. 

“Mmm?” Merlin turned lazily, nuzzling against his shoulder. 

Arthur shivered at the scrape of stubble. “These coins.”

Merlin’s eyes slitted open, vivid blue. “Want to see a trick? Watch closely.” Taking the coin from his fingers, Merlin mimed pushing sleeves up his bare arms. He displayed the nickel theatrically on an open palm, and then passed the other hand smoothly over it, and revealed both hands, palm up, perfectly empty. 

Propping himself up on his elbows, Arthur looked down at Merlin. Taking one of his bare arms, Arthur turned it over and examined it. Then, frowning, he rolled Merlin bodily to the side to check the sheets beneath him, but the coin was nowhere to be found. 

Merlin was laughing at him, skinny shoulders shaking, but Arthur felt a shiver of unease. “That’s not…”

“Real magic?” Merlin went still beneath him. There was an awkward pause. “Just a trick.” 

Sighing in relief, Arthur swooped down to kiss him, pinning him to the bed. 

“Hey. Hey,” Merlin whispered between kisses. 

“What?” Arthur mumbled against his mouth. 

“Look what I found.” Merlin ran his fingers lightly along the shell of Arthur’s ear, making him shiver, and when he opened his eyes, the quarter was gleaming in Merlin’s hand again. 

-

“So is this some kind of delayed teenage rebellion?” Gwaine asked. “Along with the  _ living in a slum even though your family’s rich as Croesus _ thing?” Arthur had been anxious about introducing Merlin to his friends for the first time, but Merlin was cheerfully chatting in the living room with Lance and Percival, flipping a coin between his fingers, while Gwaine helped Arthur with the dishes. “Some kind of… I dunno… fetishistic expression of childhood trauma?”

Arthur turned his best icy gaze on Gwaine although it was hard to muster real gravitas while up to his elbows in soapy water. “What the hell are you on about?” 

Gwaine jerked his head toward the living room. “Your new boy does magic tricks. That’s a little… Freudian or something, isn’t it?” 

“No one should ever let you near a psychology textbook,” Arthur muttered, passing a clean plate to him for drying. “I didn’t even know about the magic tricks until after we started dating.”

“Your dad would throw a fit if he knew.” 

“It’s not illegal to learn coin tricks,” Arthur snapped. “Anyway, Merlin is a leftist. I think it’s one of those anti-establishment things  - probably performed magic tricks at protests in college. You know.” 

“Edgy,” Gwaine said. “Bet he gets freaky in bed, huh? The sweet looking ones always do.” 

“Kindly shut your mouth,” Arthur sighed. 

-

The next time Arthur noticed the coins, he was face down on the mattress, clawing the sheets and panting. He caught a glimpse of silver and tarnished bronze, and then Merlin hit a new angle and his eyes fell shut, the coins forgotten.

-

“Ok, what the hell?”

A weekend with Merlin staying over meant wrecking the sheets, and changing them. There at least two pounds fifty in assorted change scattered over the bed and rolling onto the floor. 

“What the hell, what?” Merlin popped his head around the doorframe. “I was going to pop by the shops for some bacon, I can’t take another morning of juiced spinach.” 

“Breakfast smoothies are a nutritious and hydrating way to start the day,” Arthur said absently, still looking down at the bed. “Where are these coins coming from? It’s not like you spilled your wallet or something.” 

“Oh.” Some tone in his voice made Arthur turn. Merlin had gone pale.  “About that. ....remember when I told you the tricks I do are just illusions?” 

Arthur felt a cold creep of dread in his stomach. “Spit it out,” he grunted. 

“And it’s true! Most of them are just sleight of hand. But.” Merlin stopped - adam’s apple bobbing as he swallowed. “Not all of them. I’m unregistered,” he finished in one breath. 

Arthur closed his eyes briefly, lips pursed. When he opened them, Merlin was watching him with such a pathetic expression on his face that part of Arthur wanted to cross the room and hug him. Another part of him wanted to strangle Merlin. “You lied to me.” 

“I’m sorry,” Merlin said miserably. He had his arms wrapped around his chest, holding himself, head hanging down. “When I met you, I was so ready to hate you, and then we...” He gestured. “...this. And then I was afraid you would hate me instead.” 

“Were you ever going to tell me?” 

“I was working on that,” Merlin said, biting his lip. “Your father…” 

Arthur let out a heavy breath. “Believe me, I know how my father feels about magic. But you shouldn’t have lied to me.” 

“You’re more angry about the lying than that I’m… a magician?” Merlin sounded so hesitant that it made something ache under Arthur’s breastbone. 

Arthur sighed and looked down at his hands. “My stepsister came out to me when we were fourteen. I helped her hide it until she was old enough to move out.” 

“Really? I wouldn’t have... I had no idea.” 

“Not really a part of the Pendragon heir’s persona, is it?” Arthur grimaced. “Why do you think I’m living here?” He gestured to his cramped, run down apartment. “He doesn’t like to spread it around publicly because it makes him look bad, but I’m not exactly my father’s golden son.”

“I’m…” Merlin let out a heavy breath. “I’m sorry, Arthur. I know you’re not your father. I should have told you as soon as I figured out your politics.” 

“That’s right. You should have.” Arthur crossed his arms. “I could be convicted of hiding an unregistered mage.”

“I wouldn’t let that happen.” Merlin scuffed a foot across the dingy carpet. “If anyone found out I could make them forget.”

Arthur felt a clench of fear, low down in his gut - his father’s voice insidious in the back of his mind, never quite forgotten:  _ “Sorcerers are not to be trusted. How can you trust someone who has infinite power over you?” _ And another dark thought, the kind he wished he could stop having -  _ how did we miss registering someone as powerful as that? Who else have we missed?  _

Merlin must have seen something on his face because his mouth pinched down miserably. “Most people are frightened of me, if they find out what I can do.” 

“Don’t be an idiot, Merlin.” Arthur drew a deep breath, taking refuge in familiar pomposity. “You can’t even get your pants off without tripping over your own feet. I can’t imagine what I would be afraid of.” His tone sounded just a little off to his own ears, but Merlin gave him a tentative, grateful smile, and Arthur felt some of his own equilibrium returning. “What kind of incompetent sorcerer leaves coins in people’s beds?” he added. 

“Oh, that.” Now Merlin just looked sheepish. “I paid my way through uni as a street magician. The coins are just... habit, really. When I get… worked up.” His cheeks bloomed a delicious red.  

“You did magic on the streets? What if someone realized it was real? You must know how dangerous that was.”

Merlin shrugged. “Not really. Who’d suspect a street charlatan of being a real sorcerer? After all, who’d be enough of a fool?” 

Arthur shook his head. “Only you. You really are an idiot, Merlin.” 

Merlin grinned. “What does that say about you then?” 

Arthur sputtered indignantly and tackled him back on the bed. Merlin yelped and flailed until Arthur pinned him, and bent down to kiss him. 

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are love!


End file.
